4 Steps for Getting More Leads from Facebook

Facebook has proven to be a great source of new customers for millions small businesses. But many business owners are not using Facebook to its fullest lead generation potential. For one thing, Facebook has added new features that make it more useful for small firms.

First understand there are two basic ways to have a business presence on Facebook. There’s an “organic” presence. That’s your free Facebook page where you build your base of fans, post pictures, offers, articles, and more.

But there’s also paid advertising and having a paid presence can be a great supplement to. Facebook’s rich advertising platform lets you target specific audiences and take some of the guesswork out of social media marketing. Local businesses can benefit greatly from the ability to target messages only to potential customers in their own area. You can also target by age, gender, education level and occupation. Or reach people who have a specific interest in what you do.

You can use traditional ads, or what Facebook calls “sponsored stories.” Sponsored stories let you extend your reach beyond the people who interact with your page. Your sponsored stories will show up more frequently in news feeds as well as advertisements on the side of the page. Using a combination of both ads and sponsored stories can help you get the most out of your Facebook effort.

Here are four steps to generating more leads from Facebook, suggested by the firm Optify which provides digital marketing software:

1. Improve your page: It’s not enough to just have a Facebook page. You need to make it informative, attractive and engaging. Pay special attention to your cover photo and profile picture – the two primary visual items on your page. Your profile picture might appear in many places, including search results, ads and sponsored stories. And because it’s small, it must be simple. If you use a business logo that’s complex, you might want to create a simplified Facebook version.

Your company description is critical. Only the first 125 characters will appear on the main page, so make them count. Optify recommends including your main web address and a short sentence describing your business.

Take advantage of the “Invite Email Contacts” feature that lets you send a note to any email list inviting them to “Like” your Facebook page. Just make sure you’ve created a page that’s worth visiting.

2. Create Captivating Content: In order to generate leads, your Facebook page must be a steady source of helpful, shareable information. Try addressing customer “pain points.” What solutions can you offer that help people? The more you can do that, the more they are likely to share and like your content.

Keep posts short. Those in the 100-150 word range get about 60% more “likes” than longer ones. If you can convert your message into a photo or other image of some kind, so much the better. Facebook reports that photo albums and pictures generate 120%-180% more engagement. And add new items to your page regularly. Daily is good; but at least weekly. This will ensure that your content – and your business name – consistently appears in news feeds.

3. Try Facebook Quizzes: These are a quick and fun way to engage customers and learn something about them at the same time. Just keep these things in mind: It’s not a test, so don’t make it one. This will turn off customers. No more than 10 questions. Tell people up front how this will benefit them, and how many questions there are. And offer an incentive. If your goal is market research, for example, offering a prize (i.e. a discount) for completing a quiz will boost participation.

4. Use Facebook Ad-Ons: If your website and blog already have significant traffic you can increase your visibility to a larger audience by using one of the social plugin applications Facebook offers. These allow users to perform multiple actions with a single click. There’s also a registration form that lets users sign up for your website directly from Facebook, and something called “Facepile” that shows Facebook users who likes your business and puts mutual friends at the top of the list.